It's about to turn 62
Table tennis female player Ni Xialian
Announced on June 20:
I'm here for the Olympics!
The long-awaited quota for the Olympic Games has finally been announced,
is about to stand on the Olympic stage for the sixth time,
I believe that all the efforts are worth it!
(Source: Douyin account of the party)
She's a left-handed "weird ball player"
At the age of 20, he has won the world championship
There is no shortage of talents for Chinese table tennis players overseas, and Ni Xialian may be the most eye-catching one who has been active on the field so far.
On July 4, 1963, Ni Xialian was born in Shanghai. In 1977, Shanghai selected members of the National Table Tennis Junior Competition, and she was selected with the second place. In August, as the main force of the Shanghai team, he won the team championship and the women's singles championship.
In 1978, at the age of 15, she became the main player of the Shanghai team. The following year, she defeated Cao Yanhua and other world-class players at the 4th National Games, won the women's singles runner-up in the 4th National Games, and was selected for the national team in the same year.
Ni Xialian's fame is related to her unique style of play. She shoots straight with her left hand, uses a long plastic racket, and the ball path is unpredictable, and she is known as the "strange ball player". Long glue was invented by the Chinese in the 60s, and Ni Xialian innovated the straight plate long rubber tapping and pushing combined with the reverse beating method, which is the "grandfather and grandmother" of this playing method.
(Source: Beijing News)
In 1983, the 37th World Table Tennis Championships were held in Japan.
Ni Xialian partnered with Cao Yanhua and Geng Lijuan to win the women's team championship. Ni Xialian was only 20 years old at the time. What's more, in the entire World Championships, she has not tasted defeat in competitions with foreign athletes.
After retiring from the army, he lived overseas
She became the "walking champion" of Europe
In 1986, Ni Xialian retired from the national team and went overseas. In 1989 he signed with a club in Germany.
After playing in Germany for two years, he settled in Luxembourg. After that, he traveled to Germany, the United States, Poland, Luxembourg, Italy, Finland and other countries. Wherever she went, she took the championship and was known as the "invincible queen of table tennis in Europe".
In 1998, she once again ushered in her highlight moment, winning the European women's table tennis championship, beating the head of the Budapest club in Hungary, who had dominated the European women's championship for 21 years. From 1996 to 1998, she won the women's singles championship in the top 12 of Europe for three consecutive years.
At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, the 37-year-old Ni Xialian represented Luxembourg and finally fulfilled her Olympic dream and reached the top 16 of the women's singles.
At the Sydney Olympics, Ni Xialian considered this to be her first and last Olympic Games, but the lack of successors in Luxembourg table tennis made this veteran who was close to the age of "knowing the destiny" stand on the Olympic stage many times and became the oldest female player in table tennis.
In 2002, the head coach of the Luxembourg national team, Ni Xialian finally chose to represent Luxembourg in the competition and won the European table tennis women's singles championship and doubles championship, that year, she was 39 years old.
After winning the championship, she became a national treasure of Luxembourg and became a household name and loved by the local community.
When people thought she was going to retire time and time again, she participated in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, London 2012 and Rio 2016.
Ni Xialian qualified for the Tokyo Olympics (Source: ITTF)
At the age of 56, she represented Luxembourg and qualified for the Tokyo Olympics after finishing third at the 2019 European Games.
On July 25, 2020, Ni Xialian stood on the Tokyo Olympics for the fifth time, at the age of 58, her opponent was 17-year-old South Korean player Shin Yubin, and the age gap between the two reached 41 years.
After many years of absence, the longing for the motherland has not diminished
In 1986, when Ni Xialian retired from the national team, she said, "It was the national team that gave me this table tennis skill, and it was the national team that gave me the opportunity to win honors, and I will always remember the motherland and everyone." When she won the honor in Europe, she did not forget that it was cultivated in her homeland.
After winning the European women's singles championship in 2002, Ni Xialian gradually faded out of table tennis. In 2007, she wanted to participate in the Beijing Olympics, so she picked up the racket again and started to play in the points competition.
At the top 12 table tennis tournament in Europe, Ni Xialian said: "At first, I thought that playing for the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg was just to help them, but table tennis is in my blood, if I don't play now, it means that my table tennis career is over, and the reason why I still fight now is because the 2008 Olympic Games are held in my own country, and I will strive to participate, which has a special meaning." ”
Ni Xialian at the 2008 Beijing Olympics (Source: Beijing News)
In 2008, he participated in the Beijing Olympics and won the first game against the Chinese Taipei teenager, and many domestic media noticed this former national table tennis veteran.
After becoming a Luxembourg citizen, she has done a lot of work in business, economics and sports, and has done a lot of work in the exchange between China and Luxembourg, and has been praised as "Ping Pong Ambassador" by the Chinese Ambassador to Luxembourg Ma Zhixue.
How long will Ni Xialian's table tennis road go? After the Tokyo Olympics four years ago, a reporter asked her if it was her last Olympics, and she said, "Why do you have to give yourself this limit?" "As long as you're happy, why set an age?"
Source: Jimu News synthesizes Weibo, Douyin, and Beijing News